The remaining photo galleries have now been reformatted and uploaded with a number of additional photos added, mainly images that appeared in trip reports but failed to make it to the galleries for some reason. A photo index page in the new style has also been added. Your browser should redirect you automatically but if it doesn't, use the link below.

The new photos page has been moved into a new section called Collections, which will contain collections of photos that are linked by a common theme but don't fit neatly into the country based structure.

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The Czech photo galleries have been updated to the same format as China, UK, Germany, Switzerland etc, so it's now possible to view the contents by classes, operators or train types as well as by lines. In the process 40 new photos have been added to the galleries, covering all sorts of traction, and many of the photos are significantly larger than they were before.

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More catching up, this time pictures from the superb Ceske Budejovice - Nove Udoli line in the Sumava in May 2012. Although the Class 749 "Grumpies" were supposed to have been replaced by Class 754s for the 2012 season, they still handled around half the traffic at the time of my visit.

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The summer-only loco-hauled services on the Ceske Budejovice - Nove Udoli line were supposed to be worked by class 754s this year but they hadn’t taken over completely when I visited the line for three days over the May Day holiday. Much to my surprise, class 749s were still in charge of half the loco-hauled trains on this very scenic line that runs into the heart of the Sumava.

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A handful of new photos have been added to the Czech photo galleries, specifically a few shots of the Letohrad - Lichkov line after electrification and a couple of recent pics of the Brno - Jihlava line. In an effort to rationalise the structure of the galleries, some gallery and photo URLs have changed so some old links may not work.

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A few photos from my September 2011 trip to the Ceske Budejovice - Nove Udoli and Cicenice - Cerny Kriz lines in have been added to the Czech photo galleries.

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A brief return trip to the scenic Ceske Budejovice - Nove Udoli line where the class 749 diesels were coming to the end of what may well be their last season. I’d visited this line twice before, in August 2009 and August 2011 but still wanted about half a dozen shots. A visit to southern Germany provided the opportunity to spend a couple of days on the line.



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A major update to the Liberec - Ceska Lipa photo gallery which now includes 34 pictures from trips in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011. This is one of the Czech Republic’s most scenic and photogenic lines and still sees a few loco hauled passengers every day in 2011.



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More than 40 photos taken on lines 194 and 197 in the Sumava, or Bohemian Forest, in 2009 and 2011. This is one of the Czech Republic’s most scenic areas and the lines from Ceske Budejovice and Cicenice to Nove Udoli are amongst the most photogenic on the CD system. Add to this the continued use of class 749 diesels on passenger trains during the summer tourist season and class 751 diesels on a few local freights all year round and it’s difficult to resist the call of the Sumava.



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With the iconic class 749 diesels due to lose all their booked work in December 2011, a return visit to photograph the class at work on the Ceske Budejovice to Nove Udoli line was a must. There aren’t many loco hauled trains but that’s made up for by the glorious scenery of the Sumava (or Bohemian Forest), an upland area in the south-west of the Czech Republic, bordering on Austria and Germany. I spent five days on the line, from Wednesday 10 to Sunday 14 August 2011.



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The Czech photo galleries have recently been updated with pictures from my trips to the Brno, Jesenik and Liberec areas in Spring 2011, together with some previously unpublished shots from previous trips.



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A report covering two more Czech lines visited either side of a second trip to Slovakia in late April and early May 2011. This time I visited the Liberec - Frydlant - Zawidow line, where class 753.7s haul heavy freights through the Jizerske Hory mountains, and the Sumperk - Hanusovice - Jesenik line, another scenic route with class 754s on passengers and class 751s on freight.



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A report detailing a few days in the Czech Republic on the way to and from Slovakia. Most of the time was spent photographing class 754 diesels in southern Moravia on the lines from Brno to Uherske Hradiste and Stare Mesto u U.H. to Luhacovice. I also spent a few hours on the busy, electrified Praha - Ceska Trebova main line near Pardubice on the last day.



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A major update to the Czech photo galleries with a number of new and remastered pictures in several galleries including Praha, Sumperk - Jesenik, Olomouc - Sumperk, Tisnov - Zdar n/S, Praha - Rakovnik and Nymburk - Mlada Boleslav.



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This report covers a ten day photographic trip to the Czech Republic in September 2010. Much of the trip was spent on the Hanusovice - Jesenik line where class 754s were taking over but class 749s were still in evidence. The 754 worked Brno - Jihlava, Brno - Veseli, Stare Mesto - Luhacovice and Jaromer - Trutnov lines were also visited.



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it was time to try and fill some of the gaps in my electric coverage. Usti nad Labem is a busy centre for freight and passenger traffic, with a good variety of loco classes and types of traffic and some excellent photo locations nearby. I spent four days there, from 13 to 16 May 2010, but my plans were scuppered by the weather and I spent most of the time exploring. As a result, this report is more of a description of the lines ridden than of the photographic locations visited.



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Three lines converge on Volary, a small town in the heart of the Sumava, the mountainous region in the south-west of the Czech Republic that borders Germany and Austria. There are a couple of freights that run all year round and, in summer, when tourists flock to the area, there are a few loco hauled passengers as well. Volary had been on my list of places to visit for a long time and I finally got round to going there from 5 to 9 August 2009.



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It had been almost two years since I’d photographed at Praha hl.n. and in the meantime, the new northern approaches have been completed and the platforms under the overall roof have been rebuilt. The station is at its best in the morning and evening light so the long days of early July seemed a good time for a return visit. I had also hoped to photograph some diesel hauled freights in the Kladno and Kralupy areas, north of Praha, and on the Nymburk – Mlada Boleslav line but that didn’t work out.



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It had been a whole year since my last visit to the Czech Republic and, as usual, quite a few operations had changed in the meantime, not all for the worse either. This trip combined some of the new opportunities, both diesel and electric, with return visits to a few old favourites and filling in some gaps in my photographic coverage.



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The remaining pictures from my April 2008 Czech trip have been added to the photo galleries. These cover diesel worked lines in the north of the country, notably Sumperk - Jesenik, Jaromer - Trutnov and Liberec - Zawidow.



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These pictures are from the first part of my April 2008 Czech trip and include new galleries covering the Ostrava - Valasske Mezirici and Olomouc - Sumperk lines as well as additions to the Brno - Jihlava, Zdar nad Sazavou - Tisnov and Brno - Veseli nad Moravou galleries. Pictures from the other lines visited will be added later.



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The main aim of this 20-day trip was to fill in some gaps in my coverage of Czech diesel worked lines. In the event. I couldn't resist revisiting some old favourites as well. My travels took me to the Brno area then on to Ostrava for class 754s, to the Jesenik line for class 749s, 751s and old railcars, more 754s around Trutnov and finally the 753 hauled freights around Liberec.



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Pictures from my recent Czech trips added to the following photo galleries:

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This report covers a two week photographic trip to the Czech Republic in autumn 2007, visiting four rather different diesel and electric lines across the country. I started with the loco hauled weekend trains on the scenic line from Praha to Cercany before moving on to Olomouc where some old class 141 electrics are enjoying a new lease of life. Next on the agenda was the Jaromer - Trutnov line with its diesel hauled fast passengers. The trip ended with an old favourite, the Karlovy Vary - Chomutov line, my first visit there since electrification.



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Class 753 diesels disappeared from most parts of the Czech system several years ago but Liberec depot has kept a handful in service for working freights on the scenic line to Zawidow in Poland. This report covers a short trip to the area in late summer 2007.



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It had been a couple of years since I’d visited the Tyniste nad Orlici – Mezimesti line in the north of the Czech Republic but an increase in the number of freight trains prompted a return visit in June 2007. There was also the opportunity for a first visit to the nearby Jaromer – Trutnov line, which now has regular loco hauled fast passenger trains and turned out to have a lot of photographic potential. The weather wasn't brilliant so there aren't too many photos this time round.



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Pictures from the Letohrad - Lichkov, Dolni Lipka - Hanusovice and Hanusovice - Jesenik in April 2007 added to the photo galleries.

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A final visit to the scenic Letohrad - Lichkov line before electrification work started. This was one of the few routes left with diesel hauled heavy freight traffic and recent vegetation clearance had made it a real photographic treat. Four days were also spent on the splendid Hanusovice - Jesenik line, which has seen a resurgence of loco haulage this year.



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This report describes a short spur-of-the-moment trip to the Czech Republic. The intention was to spend 3 days on the Brno - Jihlava line, a route with a reasonable level of locomotive haulage, nice scenery and plenty of open locations suitable for low winter sunshine. In the event there was no sun so most of the time was spent travelling around.



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The Hanusovice – Jesenik line in Northern Moravia is a gem of a railway running over the hills just south of the Czech / Polish border. As well as the excellent scenery there are several loco hauled passengers, regular visits by a couple of classes of vintage railcar and one of the most spectacular diesel freight operations it has been my privilege to witness for a long time.

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Praha is the hub of the Czech rail system and sees a variety of classes working heavy freight and passenger traffic on the electrified main lines radiating from the city. A few less heavily trafficked lines are still diesel worked and see some loco haulage. The capital's main station, Hlavni Nadrazi boasts an impressive overall roof and there are pleasant photographic locations on a number of lines in the greater Praha area. This report describes a photographic trip to the city in late June 2006.

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This report covers a short trip to Ceska Trebova from 07 to 11 June 2006. This is one of the Czech Republic's major rail centres, located at the junction of the electrified main lines from Praha (Prague) to the major cities of Brno and Ostrava. It has marshalling yards, a large shed, a locomotive works and plenty of passenger and freight trains worked by a wide variety of electric locomotives.

The most scenic sections of the Praha - Ostrava main line lie either side of Ceska Trebova, making it a natural target for the photographer. However, my recent trips there have all suffered from poor weather and two have been notable for not producing a single decent photograph. Fortunately this time was different and there were some good sunny breaks as well as long cloudy periods.

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The Hanusovice - Jesenik line had been on my to-do list for some time and two weeks holiday at the end of April finally provided a suitable opportunity for a visit. This line features class 749 and 751 diesels and old railcars of classes 831 and 851. The middle of the trip was spent avoiding the rain in Ceska Trebova by travelling around and photographing the loco hauled passengers and heavy freights on the Letohrad - Lichkov line.

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This report describes a week long trip to photograph Czech diesels and electrics around Ceska Trebova in January 2006. This was my first real winter trip to the Czech Republic and I wasn’t really sure what to expect in terms of weather. After a few days of overcast and not particularly cold weather the skies cleared and the temperatures plummeted to below -20°C. The last three days were excellent for photography with snow and sunshine.

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Where do you go in the Czech Republic to photograph heavy diesel hauled freights these days? If you don't want to photograph under the wires and aren't that keen on pairs of 742s coupled cab to cab, there aren't that many lines to choose from. I decided to concentrate on two routes leading to the Polish border; Letohrad - Lichkov - Miedzylesie and Turnov - Liberec - Frydlant - Zawidow as both had reasonable levels of traffic, interesting locos and ran through pleasant scenery with good photographic possibilities.

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The secondary main line from Brno to Jihlava has long been one of my favourite Czech lines and a return visit was becoming overdue. The combination of a bit of freight, an eclectic mix of class 754 and class 742 diesels and vintage class 850 railcars on passenger trains and pleasant rural scenery make this one of the country’s most attractive lines for photography. Previous trips had been dogged by poor or indifferent weather but this time the sun shone solidly for 3 days in a row, going some way to make up for the disappointment of my recent visit to a soggy Ceska Trebova.

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This should have been a photographic trip but turned into an opportunity to explore a number of lines looking for photo positions to use in the future. To say it rained from the moment I got off the plane to the moment I left would be an exaggeration, but not a big one. There were a couple of very short breaks in the cloud but the sky remained resolutely overcast virtually the whole time and the rain fell continuously for hours on end.

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Midsummer is a difficult time for photography. The sun gets far too high in the middle of the day for really satisfactory pictures and is at its best very early morning and in the late afternoon and early evening. To make the most of the photographic opportunities you need to find a north - south line with heavy traffic early and late. The Plzen – Domazlice line was an ideal candidate with a very sparse midday service but more trains in the rush hours, many hauled by Plzen's photogenic blue, white and yellow class 754 diesels.

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Report from a very wet weekend trip to Praha. In between the downpours there were a few sunny breaks and a surprising number of photos, especially around Hlavni Nadrazi with it's superb overall roof. There are quite a few interesting workings around Praha at weekends including 749s on most Cercany trains and a smattering of 141 turns, including some expresses, not to mention all the other loco hauled trains with classes 150, 151, 162, 163, 350, 362, 363, 371 etc.

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The last concentration of class 753 diesels is at Liberec, where they work freights on the Nymburk - Mlada Boleslav - Turnov - Liberec - Frydlant v C - Zawidow route. I'd had little luck photographing these trains in the past but had managed to get a couple of decent shots on the previous trip. That left me eager for more, so it was back to Liberec at the first opportunity.

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A longer trip to the Czech Republic to photograph diesel workings in some of the country's most scenic areas. This trip covered three very different operations starting with the class 753 hauled freights in the Liberec area, moving on to the single track secondary route from Nachod to Mezimesti, with its class 714 and 742 worked local passengers, before finishing with class 754 hauled passengers on the double track line from Brno to Veseli nad Moravou.

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By April it was time to return to the Czech Republic for some diesels and electrics. As a gentle reintroduction to the country, I started off with a visit to the hills around Tisnov, west of Brno, an area I'd explored in poor weather last summer. Time was split between the diesel worked secondary line to Zdar nad Sazavou and the electrified main line.

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Pictures from my July 2004 trip to the Czech Republic have been added to the photo galleries.

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Pictures from my April 2004 trip to the Czech Republic have been added to the photo galleries.

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Railography website launched with Sampler Gallery and Czech Republic 2003 gallery. Railography was intended to showcase my photography with the exception of the Chinese steam pictures, which would remain on Tractive Efforts for another couple of years.